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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Hesperoleucus symmetricus

California Roach
NS GNR
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

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Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Cypriniformes (Carps and Minnows) Cyprinidae (Carps and Minnows) Hesperoleucus Hesperoleucus symmetricus (California Roach)

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: fusiform / normal. Mouth slightly subterminal; body deep, compressed, tapering to narrow caudal peduncle; dorsal-fin origin behind pelvic-fin origin; caudal fin large; scales on lateral line 47-63; dorsal fin with 7-10 rays; pharyngeal teeth 0,5-4,0; dusky gray to steel blue above; dark stripe along side; silver white below; and breeding individuals with red orange-chin, gill cover, and anal and paired-fin bases (Ref. 86798).

Distribution

North America: Sacramento-San Joaquin, Russian, Pajaro-Salinas and smaller coastal drainages in California, USA.

Habitat Associations

Freshwater. demersal. Found in: streams.

Biology

Inhabits rocky pools of headwaters, creeks and small to medium rivers (Ref. 86798).
Max length: 11.0 cm TL; common length: 8.2 cm TL; max age: 5 years.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-02-24. Resilience: High (K=0.5).

References

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (1991) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p.
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (2011) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p.

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